This invention relates to a system of ordering goods at a retail shop and more particularly to an automatic ordering system suitable for ordering work and inventory control of goods distributed daily, such as are sold in mass at a supermarket or the like, for which demand changes greatly.
As described in NIKKEI Communication, Jan. 4, 1988, pp. 68-72, in a conventional automatic ordering system, the inventory control caretaker, such as shop manager, precedently sets up a proper shop stock standard by considering the past results. An actual change of shop stock is collated with the shop stock standard so that when out-of-stock tends to occur, a supplemental order may be effected automatically. Otherwise, ordering new goods to replenish depleted inventory work is performed with reference to the experience and intuition of the person in charge of ordering.
In the conventional system, factors of change of demand are not considered with respect to individual goods. When the difference between shop stock standard and stock volume reaches a predetermined level, ordering is carried out automatically, with respect to goods for which demand changes greatly, a problem arises wherein goods being in great demand frequently become out of stock frequently while goods being in low demand are stocked in surplus.